In 1985, Super Mario Bros. was released for the original NES,
and it was one of the most innovative games of all time the
defined the 2-D side scrolling genre. Now its back on Game
Boy Color, with a host of new additions to make the game even
better to play. Will it bring back the good old days of 1985 with
even better game play, or prove an unworthy translation?
Lets get onto the review and find out.

Graphics

You gotta take into consideration that the graphics of Mario
Bros. 1 in the 3-part Nintendo trilogy were the worst for
character animation, all weird and digitized, BUT they are a
perfect translation for Game Boy Color, and the background/levels
you battle in look surprisingly good for Game Boy Color as well.
Still it's all digitized and pixilated, so the score goes down a
little, and you can't see as much as you can in front of you
during game play like in the NES version, but graphics are still
pretty good nonetheless.

Sound

The good, old, classic Mario music is here and it is still
used in current Mario games like Super Smash Bros. for N64. I
love that background music and I can't get it out of my head, but
the dungeon levels music is bland and annoying. Sound effects are
alright, and sound appropriate and exactly the way they did from
the 1985 hit with the mushroom growth noise, the warp noises when
you go down the pipes, and even the fireworks are done exactly
the way they were done a long time ago. And I always get a kick
out of the music sample you get when you die.

Game play

Remember Super Mario Bros. for NES? Well, it set the standard
for 2-D game play by exploring your way through levels, looking
for hidden areas, power ups, and killing all the bad guys in
various levels like the mushroom kingdom, dungeons, day and nigh
time. You'll love it, trying to find all the secrets is loads of
fun, and each of the dungeons gets harder hor extra replay value.
Nintendo added some extras to make this game even better as well
like a two-player vs. mode to see who can run through a level
first, and a create-a-calender, that you can print it out using
the Game Boy Printer, you can get special pictures to unlock
using game boy printer, and a brand new challenge mode where you
go through each level trying to meet the required score for the
level, plus find all the hidden coins and Yoshi egg for that
level as well. Just when you thought that Super Mario Bros.
couldn't get any better, it just did.

Replay Value

The 2-player link mode is a blast, and all the extras like
create-a-calendar and all will keep you playing as well, this
time Nintendo added 3 save files so you can save your progress
and continue where you left off, so theres no need to start
from the beginning ever agan! The game also saves your top 10
high scores to and you can trade them to another GB Color via the
Infrared Communications Port.

In Brief

+: Perfect translation from the NES to Game Boy Color, lots of
great extras to keep you playing, 2-player link mode is
unbelievable!

-: Kind of hard to make out whats in front of you due to
the size of the GB Colors screen, if you got tired of
playing the original youll most likely get tired of playing
this

The Final Ratings Rundown

Graphics: 7.6
Sound: 7.4
Game play: 9.3
Replay Value: 9.4

Overall: 8.4

Rounded to fit GameFAQs Score: 8

Final Analysis

Mario is better than ever on GB Color, if you're a fan of the
series, pick up this game, its just unimaginable all the
extras Nintendo stuffed into this translation. It's a must have
for your GB Color collection.